Self-Hosting a Dockerized App on WSL2, Exposed with a Cloudflare Tunnel

Description and use

Successfully deployed a Dockerized Node/Express app with PostgreSQL inside WSL2 and exposed it via a Cloudflare Tunnel using a real domain, avoiding external hosting.

Problem

Deploy a small Node/Express to-do app with Postgres persistence on Windows using WSL2, Docker Engine, and expose it via a real domain without paying for hosting.

Outcome

Successfully self-hosted a Dockerized Node/Express to-do app with Postgres inside WSL2 and exposed it at a real domain using a Cloudflare Tunnel, avoiding external hosting costs.

Workflow

• Install WSL2 Ubuntu via wsl --install -d Ubuntu and restart Windows
• Create Unix user in Ubuntu
• Install Docker Engine inside Ubuntu with curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sudo sh and add user to docker group
• Log out/in to apply group membership
• Set up project: copy .env.example to .env and edit DB credentials
• Choose deployment path: either bare Dockerfile with host Postgres or docker-compose with Postgres container and crond sidecar
• If using docker-compose, run sudo docker compose up --build -d
• Verify app on localhost:3000 with curl -i http://localhost:3000
• Install cloudflared Windows binary and login: cloudflared.exe tunnel login
• Create tunnel: cloudflared.exe tunnel create todo-docker-poc
• Route DNS: cloudflared.exe tunnel route dns todo-docker-poc todo-list-docker.gerardoleon.dev
• Configure tunnel in cloudflared/config.yml with tunnel ID
• Run tunnel from WSL2: cloudflared.exe tunnel --config "C:\%PROJECT%\todo-docker\cloudflared\config.yml" run todo-docker-poc
• Access app via domain

Evidence

A proof-of-concept to-do app — Node/Express and Postgres, running in Docker on WSL2 — reachable at a real domain through a named cloudflared tunnel.

Source

If you already have WSL2 and a Cloudflare-managed domain, expect this to take a few minutes, not hours.

Source